Tag: history
#TBT: September 10, 2026
On September 10, 1993, the National Park Service finalized a 50-year lease with local Samoan village councils, officially resolving land use and paving the way for the operational management of the National Park of American Samoa.
the marshmallow does not need you to defend its racist name
a follow-up to the world’s most racist snack: chocolate, nostalgia, and the people making solidarity purchases on behalf of a confectionery label.
This Week In Techdirt History: August 30th – September 5th
This Week in 2016 UK Gov't Report: Facebook, Twitter, And Google Are Pretty Much Unrepentant Terrorist Supporters New Zealand Court Grants Kim Dotcom's Request To Have Extradition Hearing Livestreamed On YouTube, Despite DOJ Protests PETA Has Lost Its Monkey's 'Next Friend' In Its Crazy Copyright Case James Comey Claims He Wants An 'Adult Conversation' About...
Book Review: American Empire, American Faith: Conquest, Christianity, and the Shaping of a Nation
Kev Grane reviews Philip Jenkins’s American Empire, American Faith, which reframes U.S. empire as a religious and moral order in which Christianity authorized, normalized, and contested imperial power.
Book Review: American Empire, American Faith: Conquest, Christianity, and the Shaping of a Nation
Kev Grane reviews Philip Jenkins’s American Empire, American Faith, which reframes U.S. empire as a religious and moral order in which Christianity authorized, normalized, and contested imperial power.
Episode 34 — The Duchy of the Venetians
As the Venetians came into their own, politics within the dogado was turbulent, factional, and often violent. Most of the early doges met a rather sticky end.
The Parchman Band Started in the 1930s. A Modern Version Is Carrying on Tradition.
The band at the notoriously violent Mississippi State Penitentiary is back together and even playing gigs on the outside.
Bromley Poltergeist: The Haunted Allotment Shed Case
The Bromley Allotment Poltergeist: The Strange Case of the Haunted Shed Most ghost stories haunt old mansions or crumbling churches. This one picked a gardening shed. For nearly two years, three retirees running a small allotment supply business in England got tormented by something that threw fertilizer, tore shirts, and left a skull burned into...
Cideville Poltergeist: The 1851 Case That Went to Court
A haunted house is one thing. A haunted house that ends up in front of a judge is another thing entirely. That's exactly what happened in a small French village called Cideville in the winter of 1850. By the time it was over, a shepherd accused of witchcraft was suing a Catholic priest for defamation....
Poland’s 400-Year-Old ‘Vampire’ Grave: Forensics & Rituals
When archaeologists dug into the sandy soil of Pień, Poland, they found an iron sickle pinned tightly across a young woman's throat. Clamped to her left big toe was a heavy iron padlock, sealing a 400-year-old fear that she might claw her way back from the grave. Today, cutting-edge forensic science, DNA profiling, and 3D...
This Week In Techdirt History: August 23rd – 29th
This Week in 2016 India Criminalizes Merely Visiting A Copyright Infringing 'Blocked' Site Anti-Piracy Operations Are Fabricating Links To Non-Existent Torrents In DMCA Notices Peter Thiel's Lawyer Now Sending Questionable Defamation Threat Letters To Media On Behalf Of Melania Trump Copyright Group, In Arguing Against FCC's Set Top Box Proposal, Appears To Argue That VCRs...
Wanted: Cheap Computing 💸
A new weekly newsletter about mini PCs kicks off with deal hunting, driver warnings, and a look at mini PC history.
Malawi urged to document its stories before they are lost
Malawi needs more books documenting the experiences of its people to preserve the country’s history and inspire future generations, with many important stories at risk of being lost if they are not recorded.The call was made earlier this week during the launch of the late veteran journalist Grey James Mang’anda’s autobiography, “Images of My Journalism...
This Week In Techdirt History: August 16th – 22nd
This Week in 2016 Snowden Docs Show NSA, New Zealand Spied On Pro-Democracy Activists Which Crazy Copyright Holder Took Down Katie Ledecky/Carlos Santana 'Smooth' Mashup First? Billionaire Backer Of Palantir & Facebook Insists He's Bankrupting Journalists To Protect Your Privacy Donald Trump Says He'll Turn Off The Internet For Terrorists Twitter Suspends Hundreds Of Thousands...
Zachary — Liber Pontificalis
An excerpt of the "Liber Pontificalis" for Pope Zachary about Lombard attacks on Ravenna around 742.
Billy the Kid’s Ghost: The Man Behind the Myth in NM
Billy the Kid's Ghost: separating the man from the myth in lincoln, new mexico Everyone knows the legend: a baby-faced killer who gunned down 21 men, one for every year of his short life. Turns out almost none of that holds up. In the small New Mexico town where it all went down, people say...
Jerome of Sandy Cove: Nova Scotia’s Legless Mystery
The Mystery Man of Nova Scotia: Who Was Jerome, Really? Imagine waking up on a cold beach with both your legs gone and not one person around you speaking your language. That's exactly what happened to a young man in Nova Scotia in 1863. His story is stranger, sadder, and more human than most ghost...
Carnac Megaliths: Drone & LiDAR Find Hidden Stones
The legendary standing stones of Carnac in Brittany have guarded their prehistoric secrets beneath the French soil for over six millennia. Modern researchers have traded heavy pickaxes for non-invasive technology like LiDAR drones, electromagnetic induction, and ground-penetrating radar. These cutting-edge scans are revealing hundreds of forgotten menhirs, buried foundation sockets, and ceremonial hearths hidden right...
3I/ATLAS vs Oumuamua vs Borisov: Interstellar Visitors
Our solar system is no longer a gated community. For generations, astronomers assumed rogue rocks from other star systems routinely drifted through our neighborhood, yet we lacked the instruments to catch them. Today, three confirmed interstellar wanderers — 1I/’Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, and 3I/ATLAS — have rewritten our understanding of galactic history and alien planetary chemistry. What...
Why Was Göbekli Tepe Buried? Real Archaeological Truth
Perched on a limestone ridge in southeastern Turkey, Göbekli Tepe turned our understanding of the Stone Age upside down when excavators uncovered massive, 11,500-year-old carved megaliths. For decades, popular books and television documentaries claimed the builders deliberately entombed the entire temple complex under thousands of tons of soil in an eerie farewell ritual. Recent soil...
Did Bob Lazar Predict Element 115? Real Science
In 1989, Bob Lazar stunned television audiences by claiming he had reverse-engineered extraterrestrial spacecraft at a covert Nevada site called S4. He alleged these craft were powered by a stable, superheavy substance dubbed "Element 115" that generated its own anti-gravity propulsion field. When nuclear physicists in Russia synthesized real Element 115 fourteen years later and...
Does the Brain Release DMT at Death? What Science says
Few ideas in popular neuroscience capture the imagination quite like the belief that your dying brain floods itself with DMT. For decades, pop culture and spiritual communities claimed this powerful psychedelic molecule orchestrates the tunnel of light, out-of-body sensations, and peaceful visions reported by cardiac arrest survivors. But what does actual laboratory data say when...
Havana Syndrome Explained: Causes, Science & CIA Reports
In late 2016, American and Canadian diplomats stationed in Cuba began reporting sudden, bizarre ailments like piercing head pressure, dizziness, and intense buzzing sounds. The mysterious condition soon earned the nickname "Havana Syndrome," triggering international intrigue and fears of a secret high-tech weapon. Nearly a decade later, medical researchers, neuroscientists, and spy agencies have compiled...
Society of the Snow: Real Story vs Movie Accuracy
On October 13, 1972, a chartered plane carrying a young Uruguayan rugby team crashed deep in the frozen Andes mountains, stranding 45 people without winter gear or food. Director J.A. Bayona's Oscar-nominated film Society of the Snow (La sociedad de la nieve) brought this miraculous 72-day survival story back to global attention with staggering realism....
Osage Murders Timeline: The True Story & Full History
In the early 1920s, members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma became the richest people per capita in the world after prospectors struck massive oil deposits beneath their reservation. That staggering fortune attracted predators who launched a systematic campaign of poisonings, drive-by shootings, and bombings known as the Reign of Terror. This complete timeline tracks...
In the Early ’90s, the Lifers Group Tried to Warn Kids About the Perils of Prison
The incarcerated hip-hop group that emerged from the controversial ‘Scared Straight’ program set out to deglamorize the gangster rap of the moment.
The Georgia Guidestones: 2022 Attack & Capsule Truth
Before dawn on July 6, 2022, an explosive blast shattered the massive granite pillars known as America's Stonehenge. Within hours, county officials demolished the remaining structure for safety, leaving behind a scarred pasture and dozens of unanswered questions. From the hunt for the bomber to the myth of a buried time capsule, here is the...
Project Blue Beam Explained: Origin, Myths & Physics
If you spend enough time in the shadowy corners of the internet, you will eventually run into a wild claim that global powers plan to simulate the end of the world using giant sky holograms. This enduring modern myth is known as Project Blue Beam, a bizarre narrative combining science fiction tropes, secret government cabals,...
This Week In Techdirt History: August 9th – 15th
This Week in 2016 Primatologist Tells Court That Macaque Monkeys Are, Like, Super Smart, So They Should Totally Get Copyrights Will DNC Email Hacking Make Legislators More Friendly To Encryption? Donald Trump On Intellectual Property: China Is Bad Botnet Bill Could Give FBI Permission To Take Warrantless Peeks At The Contents Of People's Computers Judge...
Mariana Trench ‘Metallic Sound’ Solved: What Biotwang Is
Deep underwater in the Mariana Trench, passive acoustic sensors captured a bizarre, metallic pinging sound that stumped marine biologists for a decade. Dubbed the "Biotwang," this 3.5-second vocalization ranged from a deep bass moan to a futuristic ray-gun ringing tone. Today, advanced acoustic mapping and artificial intelligence have finally identified the mystery singer hiding in...
3,500-Year-Old Skeletons Challenge Syphilis Origin Theory
How 3,500-Year-Old Skeletons in Vietnam Challenge Theories on Syphilis Origins A buried secret in northern Vietnam is forcing medical historians to rewrite what they thought they knew about ancient disease. When researchers examined 3,500-year-old child skeletons at an archaeological site called Man Bac, they found clear signs of a severe bacterial infection passed from mother...
Roman Shipwreck in Sicily: What 500 Wine Jars Reveal
2,100-year-old Roman shipwreck discovered off sicily: What 500 ancient wine jars reveal Imagine diving 150 feet below the Mediterranean waves and stumbling upon hundreds of intact clay jars frozen in time. That exact scene unfolded off the coast of western Sicily, where divers uncovered a 2100 year old Roman shipwreck resting upright on the ocean...
Murderland
Caroline Fraser grew up in the shadow of Ted Bundy, the most notorious serial murderer of women in American history, surrounded by his hunting grounds and mountain body dumps, in the brooding landscape of the Pacific Northwest. But in the 1970s and '80s, Bundy was just one perpetrator amid an uncanny explosion of serial rape and murder across the region. Why so many? Why so weirdly and nightmarishly gruesome? Why the senseless rise and then sudden fall of an epidemic of serial killing? As Murderland indelibly maps the lives and careers of Bundy and his infamous peers in mayhem—the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, even Charles Manson—Fraser’s Northwestern death trip begins to uncover a deeper mystery and an overlapping pattern of environmental destruction. At ground zero in Ted Bundy’s Tacoma stood one of the most poisonous lead, copper, and arsenic smelters in the world, but it was hardly unique in the West. As Fraser’s investigation inexorably proceeds, evidence mounts that the plumes of these smelters not only sickened and blighted millions of lives but also warped young minds, including some who grew up to become serial killers. A propulsive nonfiction thriller, Murderland transcends true-crime voyeurism and noir mythology, taking readers on a profound quest into the dark heart of the real American berserk.
Why Were the Nazca Lines Created? Purpose, AI & How Made
Etched into the sun-baked plains of southern Peru, the Nazca Lines have sparked decades of wild theories ranging from alien runways to giant astronomical calendars. The scientific reality is far more grounded, human, and clever than science fiction. Ancient indigenous societies created these massive geoglyphs as sacred pathways for water rituals, and modern artificial intelligence...
Is the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia? Real History
Deep in northern Ethiopia, a small guarded chapel in the ancient city of Aksum claims to house humanity's most elusive sacred relic: the Ark of the Covenant. While millions of believers consider this an absolute spiritual truth, historians and archaeologists approach the claim with fascination and skepticism. Does the golden chest holding the Ten Commandments...
Who were the Anunnaki? Ancient myths vs Alien theories
Few ancient names provoke as much wild speculation and intense debate as the Anunnaki. To ancient Mesopotamians, they were simply the primary pantheon of sky and earth deities governing human fate. To modern conspiracy channels and ancient astronaut writers, they were gold-seeking extraterrestrials who genetically engineered human beings. Cuneiform tablets vs Science fiction Did ancient...
This Week In Techdirt History: August 2nd – 8th
This Week in 2016 Manhattan DA Continues To Claim 'We Don't Want Crypto Backdoors…' By Which He Means He Wants Crypto Backdoors No Matter Who Our Next President Is, They Won't Understand Technology Broadband Industry Formally Tries, Once Again, To Kill Net Neutrality Comcast Tells The FCC It Should Be Able To Charge Broadband Users...
Antikythera Mechanism: World’s First Analog Computer
In 1901, sponge divers off the coast of a tiny Greek island hauled up a corroded lump of bronze from a 2,000 year old shipwreck. That calcified chunk of metal turned out to be the Antikythera Mechanism, a hand cranked device packed with thirty precision gears. Long before silicon chips existed, ancient Greek engineers created...
The Baghdad Battery Myth: Ancient Power or Scroll Jar?
In 1936, railway workers digging near Baghdad unearthed a plain 2,000 year old clay jar containing a copper cylinder and an iron rod. Ever since its discovery, sensationalists have claimed this humble artifact was a working galvanic cell that generated ancient electricity. Does this mysterious vessel prove ancient humans mastered electric power two millennia early,...
What Lies Beneath the Sphinx? Seismic Scans & The Truth
What Lies Beneath the Sphinx’s Left Paw? Seismic Surveys and the Hall of Records Myth For decades, the Great Sphinx of Giza has been the center of a swirling vortex of archaeological facts and New Age fantasies. When a 1991 seismic survey detected a bizarre rectangular anomaly deep beneath the monument's paws, believers were convinced...
Great Pyramid Void: ScanPyramids & Muon Tomography
For over 4,500 years, the Great Pyramid of Giza kept its deepest secrets locked away beneath millions of tons of limestone. Now, high-energy particle physics has cracked this ancient puzzle wide open without moving a single stone. By capturing cosmic rays from space, scientists have uncovered hidden structures — including a staggering 30-meter void —...
Stonehenge Acoustics: How Sarsen Stones Amplified Sound
When you picture Stonehenge, you probably think of massive rocks aligned with the summer solstice. You imagine a silent, mystical calendar on the Salisbury Plain. But ancient rituals were rarely quiet affairs. New archaeoacoustics research reveals that the iconic sarsen stones did not just track the sun — they dramatically altered how sound behaved, acting...
How Easter Island Statues Walked: Rapa Nui Moai Transport
How Easter Island Statues Walked: The Physics of Rapa Nui Moai Transport You’ve seen the pictures of Easter Island, right? Towering, solemn stone heads attached to buried bodies, dotting a treeless landscape. There are nearly 1,000 of them. Since Europeans first arrived, a single question has echoed across the Pacific: How on earth did an...
Cova Dones: 120 Inscriptions Reveal Roman Goddess Cult
Imagine walking 200 meters into pitch-black rock, only to find the walls covered in ancient prayers. Archaeologists exploring a Spanish cave just uncovered a massive collection of Latin graffiti that completely flips our understanding of ancient Roman religion.These 120 underground inscriptions reveal a secret, women-led cult dedicated to a mysterious goddess lost to time. 120...
King Tut’s Meteorite Dagger: A Metal Forged From the Sky
King Tut’s Meteorite Dagger: How Chemistry Solved a 3,300-Year-Old Mystery When Howard Carter unwrapped King Tutankhamun’s mummy in 1925, he found a pristine iron dagger tucked perfectly against the boy king's right thigh. The blade hadn't rusted after 3,300 years in the dark, leaving archaeologists completely baffled for decades. We now know ancient Egypt’s most...
Oldest Roman Library in Spain Found at Ancient Villa
For decades, archaeologists assumed the mysterious Room 10 inside a lavish Roman villa in southern Spain was a temple dedicated to an ancient mystery cult. Now, cutting-edge architectural analysis reveals this space was actually a magnificent private library built for an educated elite. This incredible discovery officially makes it the oldest known library on the...
Preserved 3,800-Year-Old Giant’s Tomb Uncovered in Sardinia
Deep in the rugged hills of central-western Sardinia, dense Mediterranean brush has guarded a colossal ancient secret for nearly four thousand years. Archaeologists clearing wild undergrowth at Carrarzu Iddia recently stumbled upon a remarkably intact megalithic monument known as a Tomb of the Giants. Built around 1800 BCE, this newly exposed stone structure offers a...